The Perks of Aging Perkily

So, I turned in Liturgy 1, and was planning to work on Critical Thinking next. I shopped for the books I wanted to acquire, and put that Amazon Shopping cart on hold because I happen to be the owner of a shiny brunette 14 yr old who before she can drive a car is suddenly driving me to the poor house.

I had planned on completing her dental work before she started High School this year; and that gap between her teeth is closed nicely now, but of course that required money. Immediately on the heels of that, her cell phone imploded. Now don’t even start on me about why she doesn’t need a cell phone. Her father already tried that and unlike him, I’ve been raising daughters for 34 years. Had the cell phone been around for all four of those daughters, I’d have gotten them all that lovely electronic leash that can locate them and let me know immediately at any given moment that my babies are safe, even if I know they are rolling their eyes when returning my text messages.

Then on top of that, there’s been school clothes, the dress and shoes for Homecoming Dance, the Halloween festivities and her looming 15th birthday. And it’s my significant other’s birthday. Critical Thinking is on hold till my savings account recovers.

In the meantime…well lookie there! I happen to already own every book I need to turn my academic attention to the ADF course, “History of Neo-Paganism and Druidry.” Looking over the course, I discovered that I pretty much knew the answer to each of those questions and only needed to pluck them from my head and find sources I could cite to support what I knew. How is this possible? I’m freakin’ old, that’s how. I’ve been religious my whole life but without jumping into a religion with both feet, I’ve always had my sights scanning, looking for a path that didn’t have that little wiggly worm of dissension. So I’ve spent three decades exploring a variety of religions, particularly the varied topics of paganism.

The pagan paths always were the closest thing to a comfort zone for me. In my decades of looking hither and yon, coupled with having been married to a man that had owned an occult bookstore, and having spent most of those 34 years explaining to my daughters why it’s the law that we must barbeque at Lughnasadh (shhhhhh…I think I finally have them convinced so don’t rat me out on this one), I know quite a bit about Gardner, Crowley, Murray etc, and what is the difference in the flavors of Wicca, Heathenism, ceremonial magic, and why it’s so much nicer to have the Yule King visit on Solstice a few days before everyone else has Christmas so that we can kick back with our eggnog and relax while everyone else is still fighting for parking at the Mall and garroting themselves with ribbon.

The older I get, the more I’m enjoying it. Over and over lately I’ve heard people ask me “how do you know all that” or “how do you know how to do that” or “you’ve done so many things in your life,” …well here’s the secret on that…I’m old. I’ve had lots and lots of time to ride this train, and I’m still enjoying the ride.